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The Australian Steelers have ended their eight-year wait for a Paralympic medal by winning bronze for the first time in their history.
In overcoming the bitter disappointment of missing the gold medal match in the most emphatic way, the Steelers defeated 2020 Paralympic champions Great Britain 50-48.
With two gold medals (Rio 2016, London 2012) and two silver medals (Beijing 2008, Sydney 2000) since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games in 1996, a Paris 2024 bronze medal completes the historical set.
Australian captain Chris Bond said while it was not the result the Steelers came to Paris for, he was proud of the way his team bounced back after their crushing semi-final loss. The Steelers went down 52-51 in overtime against Japan 24 hours earlier.
“It was so disheartening yesterday when we battered out of the semi-final in the way we did, the fact that we had the game in our hands, and we lost,” Bond said.
“But we told the team to just let that sink in, use that as fuel for motivation today, we always wanted to finish on top and get a win. Two thirds of our team coming in had never received a Paralympic medal before, and now they’re Paralympic medallists.
“It always feels better to finish the campaign on a win, and especially a close win, which all the games have been.”
After scores were locked at all three breaks, it became a battle of nerves in the final quarter to see who would crack first.
And with the packed crowd at Arena Champs de Mars – predominantly French and Australian fans – cheering against them, it was the Britons who failed to handle the pressure.
Their talismen Stuart Robinson and Aaron Phipps both committed crucial errors in the final three minutes while Australia’s star quartet of Bond, Ryley Batt and debutants James McQuillan and Beau Vernon were clinical.
Vernon, along with Batt, played every second of the match and the Sunshine Coast pair combined to orchestrate arguably its most pivotal moment on the stroke of half-time. After the British defence locked him up, Batt was forced to throw a long, looping pass to Vernon who miraculously latched on to it with just centimeters and 0.4 seconds to spare before he rolled over the try-line. Without that goal, the Britons would have taken a one-goal lead into the long break and the ascendancy. Instead, Vernon’s heroics rattled them.
“I knew that as soon as there was five seconds left on the clock, I was the one shooting long and the opposition probably didn’t pay me enough respect as a 0.5 player [the classification with the lowest physical function],” Vernon said.
“I thought I was going to be one-push short of being able to catch it and to get it over the line in time. But I just grabbed on and gee, what a moment that was.
“I can’t take all the credit, Ryley’s pass was on the money and I’m definitely looking forward to watching the replay on that one.”
Victory triggered emotional scenes for the Steelers, most notably from Batt who made his 353rd international appearance in the bronze medal match at his sixth Paralympic Games.
While the rest of team eventually returned to the dressing room to continue celebrations, Batt stayed on court to saviour the moment which prompted questions from the media about his potential retirement.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. LA [2028] is in four years. Brisbane [2032] is eight years. I definitely could do it age-wise. Let’s just reconvene on this one, let’s get the body fixed up, a bit of surgery on the shoulders and elbows and enjoy life for a bit, and then we’ll see what happens,” Batt said.
“This medal is for my family. My family came over and spent all that money and time and effort to support me, and the exact same with all the other teammates, we brought that home for them.
“We wanted a gold, but a bronze medal sounds pretty good to me. The competition here was just absolutely elite. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was an honour to be able to play this competition and come out [with] third place.
“This one’s pretty special, to be honest. The first medal I received was a silver medal (in Beijing 2008) and I was a little bit disappointed with that one and I wanted to turn that silver into gold. So we won the next two gold medals, and it would have been nice to get a gold here, but I’m pretty proud of this bronze.”
Watch the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on the 9Network and 9Now live and free, and on Stan Sport till September 8.
By: Tim Mannion, Paralympics Australia
Published: 2 September 2024
